Hopefully they can dodge RCS too, because it’s a poor solution. Worse, Apple’s implementation of RCS doesn’t include E2E encryption.
Edit: RCS limits attaments to 100mb! What the hell, why? I can, today, send 100mb over SMS/MMS, on Verizon, to other Verizon phones. RCS would be a step backward.
I don’t really care about iMessage, Android is my primary device, and SMS sucks, and most people use SMS because Android, and I prefer to use other apps (especially on my iOS devices).
IMessage has its own insecurities, despite what people think. There’s a recent publication about it while it uses AES to encrypt the message, the encrypted message and the AES key are packaged together with the RSA key…which never changes. So if you get someone’s RSA key, you can decrypt all their messages, old ones, new ones, ALL of them.
So if they can dodge it, this keeps the pressure toward third-party apps with proper encryption, that isn’t tied to your IMEI, Google or Apple accounts.
And this is what governments fear the most - they peoe will use apps like Signal, where not even the metadata is easily accessible or useful even if you could access it.
After 3 months of using RCS with Jibe, I have decided to turn RCS off due to it’s instability, unreliability, and lack of standardization. Sometimes, I’d send an RCS message and it wouldn’t go through, and sometimes someone would send me a message via RCS, and I wouldn’t get it.
In some RCS group chats, I would only see half the conversation because some people would send messages in the group chat, and I wouldn’t get them. You know what, I could list off RCS problems for 48 hours without stopping, but that would be a waist of time. The point is RCS is buggy, and doesn’t work. The Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative already failed, so there is absolutely no way RCS will ever be able to replace SMS. This, along with RCS’s bugs, is the reason why RCS will only be good enough to be a broken and unreliable iMessage for Android. Without the carriers, there is no way RCS will ever become a standard, and I don’t think Apple will ever adopt RCS because of the stupid decisions of carriers, Google, and smartphone manufacturers.
The whole reason I started using RCS was because I wanted to support it, not because I actually liked it. Now, there is no reason to support RCS because it is a broken messaging system, and will never become a standard. Android is extremely fragmented, and it will continue to be fragmented for a very, very long time
A 100MB file transfer over MMS? I’m not saying you’re lying, but recognize that is highly abnormal and most carriers aren’t going to support anything near that high. 100MB would be a huge upgrade for most people over MMS.
I have no idea what carrier this user is with and I agree that sounds absurd. Photos and videos are automatically downgraded before being delivered. The file size limit is typically below 5MB. Videos are like 480p and photos are 720p. I hate sending photos through MMS and would rather use data with a different messaging app if RCS isnt available.
The maximum file size for picture/video messages depends upon the device software and device’s network capability. View the signal indicator on your phone to determine which signal is being received:
That as anecdotal as me saying it works fine for me. I haven’t encountered any of the issues you quoted.
But overall I disagree that abandoning RCS to keep pushing for 3rd party apps is the correct path. How’s that been going for the last decade? SMS is the only common platform between all the people I know. If there are issues with RCS they need to fixed.
This. I’ve been using RCS for nearly 3 years, starting as soon as it was released (even going as far as to trick the messages app into letting me into the pre-release rollout), and have never had any issues with it other than when one of my friends switched over to an iPhone (and in fairness, iMessage has the same issues if you don’t deassociate your phone number)
I commented further down, but I think you are confused with this bit:
RCS limits attaments to 100mb! What the hell, why? I can, today, send 100mb over SMS/MMS, on Verizon, to other Verizon phones. RCS would be a step backward.
The maximum file size for picture/video messages depends upon the device software and device’s network capability. View the signal indicator on your phone to determine which signal is being received:
There is no such specification. It is solely up to the provider. For example, T-Mobile and ATT both state 100MB on their “Advanced Messaging” FAQ. I’m sure Verizon is the same though I couldn’t find the exact wording.
Photos and Videos through RCS use your data.
The spec does state there is an 8,000 character limit and a maximum of 100 participants in a group conversation.
Kind of a mixed bag.
Hopefully they can dodge RCS too, because it’s a poor solution. Worse, Apple’s implementation of RCS doesn’t include E2E encryption.
Edit: RCS limits attaments to 100mb! What the hell, why? I can, today, send 100mb over SMS/MMS, on Verizon, to other Verizon phones. RCS would be a step backward.
I don’t really care about iMessage, Android is my primary device, and SMS sucks, and most people use SMS because Android, and I prefer to use other apps (especially on my iOS devices).
IMessage has its own insecurities, despite what people think. There’s a recent publication about it while it uses AES to encrypt the message, the encrypted message and the AES key are packaged together with the RSA key…which never changes. So if you get someone’s RSA key, you can decrypt all their messages, old ones, new ones, ALL of them.
So if they can dodge it, this keeps the pressure toward third-party apps with proper encryption, that isn’t tied to your IMEI, Google or Apple accounts.
And this is what governments fear the most - they peoe will use apps like Signal, where not even the metadata is easily accessible or useful even if you could access it.
Here’s just one well written example of what’s wrong with RCS: https://www.reddit.com/r/UniversalProfile/comments/11b6fyd/ugh_rcs_really_does_stink/
The text of that post:
A 100MB file transfer over MMS? I’m not saying you’re lying, but recognize that is highly abnormal and most carriers aren’t going to support anything near that high. 100MB would be a huge upgrade for most people over MMS.
I have no idea what carrier this user is with and I agree that sounds absurd. Photos and videos are automatically downgraded before being delivered. The file size limit is typically below 5MB. Videos are like 480p and photos are 720p. I hate sending photos through MMS and would rather use data with a different messaging app if RCS isnt available.
He said it’s Verizon.
Ah I missed that. Thanks.
In any case, I think this user is confused. See here: https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-14641/
I think this is where the confusion stemmed from.
Makes sense, thanks for clearing that up!
“Verizon Messages” is RCS.
That as anecdotal as me saying it works fine for me. I haven’t encountered any of the issues you quoted.
But overall I disagree that abandoning RCS to keep pushing for 3rd party apps is the correct path. How’s that been going for the last decade? SMS is the only common platform between all the people I know. If there are issues with RCS they need to fixed.
This. I’ve been using RCS for nearly 3 years, starting as soon as it was released (even going as far as to trick the messages app into letting me into the pre-release rollout), and have never had any issues with it other than when one of my friends switched over to an iPhone (and in fairness, iMessage has the same issues if you don’t deassociate your phone number)
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Perhaps the the EU should be looking at a forced divestment of Jibe?
I commented further down, but I think you are confused with this bit:
This is not true by any means. See here: https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-14641/
Does it say so in the specification or is that the limit of a single RCS provider? How does sending files even work in RCS?
There is no such specification. It is solely up to the provider. For example, T-Mobile and ATT both state 100MB on their “Advanced Messaging” FAQ. I’m sure Verizon is the same though I couldn’t find the exact wording.
Photos and Videos through RCS use your data.
The spec does state there is an 8,000 character limit and a maximum of 100 participants in a group conversation.
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That’s a proper comment right there